Syndicate

Ireland

June 9, 2016 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Anphoblacht -- On BBC’s Question Time with David Dimbleby, I asked British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers directly whether she believed a Brexit was in the interests of people in the North – she didn't answer the question.

I then asked her whether the British Government, in the event of a Brexit, would replace the European funding which would be lost to the North of Ireland as a consequence of withdrawal from the EU – she didn't answer that question either.

The fact is that a Brexit is opposite to the interests of people in the Six Counties.

Long-standing Dublin councillor Criona Ni Dhalaigh (pictured above) was elected mayor
with 41 votes from the 63 member city council -- despite a last minute
effort by the right-wing parties to wreck a deal which should have
guaranteed Sinn Fein the post.

Ni Dhalaigh is the 346th mayor of the city, but only the eighth woman
to hold the office.

Sinn Fein became the largest party on the council at last year’s local
elections, taking 16 out of the council’s seats.

Tallies from the Dublin constituencies show a Yes vote of around 70%
while other areas are said to be slightly lower, at around 60%. The
official result will be announced on May 23 afternoon.

It was one of the highest ever turnouts for a referendum in the
country, with almost 60% of registered voters taking part. In the last
referendum, two years ago, only 39% voted nationally in an unsuccessful
bid to abolish the Seanad, the upper house of the Dublin parliament.

The People
Before Profit Alliance is aligned to the Socialist Workers Party in Ireland, while the Anti-Austerity Alliance is associated with the Socialist Party (CWI). Despite wariness among activists due to these organisations' past practices that contributed to the failure of the United Left Alliance, the statement has been widely welcomed.

May 8, 2015 -- Broadsheet.ie, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- Hope has been in short supply in Ireland in recent years but, thankfully, it has emerged in recent months. But this hope
has not come in the so-called "recovery", which is deeply uneven across
the country and from which the majority of people remain excluded.

No, the real hope emerged, first in the mass protests against water charges, and now in
the possibility of a new political movement built from the grassroots of
these unprecedented protests.

Since Ireland's independence in 1921 the overwhelming majority of Irish
governments have been composed of the tweedle-dee, tweedle-dum parties
of Fine Gael/Fianna Fail/Labour Party. What have they achieved for
ordinary people? Corruption, inequality and austerity are now the
hallmarks of the Irish Republic, a centenary after its founders aimed
for a Republic of equality.

May 2, 2015 -- Irish Republican News, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- With just days to go before a potentially historic Westminster general
election on May 7, a further rise in support for the Scottish National Party (SNP) is
already creating a crisis in British politics which will likely have
implications for Ireland.

Most recent polls indicate that the SNP will sweep almost all of the 59
Westminster seats in Scotland, and is well placed to win the balance of
power in London. The development appears to have taken the British
establishment by surprise and thrown the opposition Labour Party into
chaos.

All but one or two of the 59 MPs elected by Scotland could now be won by
the SNP by the time counting concludes, creating a political
imperative for independence which is directly comparable to the 1918 "Sinn Fein" election in the aftermath of the Easter Rising in Ireland.

A confused Labour Party leader Ed Miliband told a television election
special that he would refuse any pact with the SNP -- even
if it meant giving up the chance of power to David Cameron’s Conservatives (Tories). On May 1 he repeated that there would be “no deals or coalitions”.

May 1, 2015 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- Ireland's left, under the impact of the mass movement against water charges that has thrown traditional politics into turmoil, is discussing how it can organise to seriously challenge for power.

On May 1, in Dublin, five trade unions involved in the
Right2Water (R2W) campaign are hosting a conference to discuss a “Platform for Renewal” for the general election due within the year. There will be guest speakers from SYRIZA, Podemos and
the European movement against water privatisation.

R2W includes the radical
left, Sinn Féin, other left politicians and the extensive
network of anti-water charges grassroots groups in
towns and communities across Ireland. R2W has mobilised four massive protests in since October
1, 2013, which have
rocked the establishment.

Ireland's Irish Left Review is housing a discussion on what way forward for the left, from which the contribution below first appeared.

Sinn Féin is totally and absolutely opposed to austerity north and south.

Any parties, which contemplate endorsing or supporting a cabinet of millionaires who are behind budget cuts, cuts to public services and cuts to social protections are ignoring the needs of the people in favour of narrow self-interest.

The people need to have the opportunity to have their say and their voice needs to be heard.

The parties at Westminster are committed to further austerity.

Sinn Féin’s progressive politics and commitment to the rights of citizens is the only alternative to that.

We want to see a society based on equality, inclusion and safeguards for children with disabilities, adults with severe disabilities and the long term sick.

The same day, Sinn Féin moved a Petition of Concern — supported by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) — in the assembly to prevent the passage of the bill, which would impose cuts to welfare. This forced the DUP minister for social development, Mervyn Storey, to withdraw the bill and re-enter talks to resolve the stand-off.

The following talk -- “The Greek elections -- what next?
SYRIZA and the fight against austerity” – was presented to the Department of
Political Economy and the Australia-Greece Solidarity Campaign, March 10, 2015,
at the University of Sydney’s New Law
School. Dick Nichols is Green Left
Weekly’s and Links International
Journal of Socialist Renewal’s European correspondent, based in Barcelona, and a member of the Australian Socialist Alliance. Nichols is currently touring Australia presenting an eyewitness account of the SYRIZA election victory.

* * *

March 12, 2015 – Links
International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- What does SYRIZA’s victory
means for politics in Europe, at both all-European and national levels? Both are
closely intertwined, and since SYRIZA’s January 25, 2015, electoral victory there
have been having increasingly rapid feedback effects.

February
2, 2015 – Links International Journal of
Socialist Renewal --It has been a
hundred years since the outbreak of the First World War. The centennial of the
“war to end all wars” has seen countless commemorations of the millions of
heroic soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice for king and country.

Yet
missing from all of the observances of the war are the deeper questions of its
causes – to divide colonies among predatory ruling classes – and the heroism of
those who opposed the mass slaughter. And for the left, that is how we should
remember this 100th anniversary – but honoring those socialists and communists
who fought against all the odds to end the slaughter.

“This is the time for serious political discussion among progressive Irish political, community and trade union activists on ideas and strategies to ensure the future election of a Left coalition in the South ...

“Those on the progressive and republican Left need to make that change irreversible by altering the current balance of forces to create a new political realignment. That will only come about through popular support for a credible political alternative that can effectively challenge the conservative power blocs and their policies ...

Adams said: “I spoke this morning with Alexis Tsipras, leader of SYRIZA. I expressed Sinn Fein’s solidarity with the Greek people as they struggle against the disastrous consequences of the austerity policies of the Greek government, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

“On my own behalf and that of Sinn Féin I extended good luck and best wishes to SYRIZA in Sunday’s general election in Greece and expressed our full support for a European debt conference.

“The austerity policies of Ireland's Fine Gael/Labour Party government and its predecessors have inflicted widespread damage on Irish society and hardship on our citizens.

December 12, 2014 -- Green Left Weekly -- Up to 100,000 protesters shut down Dublin city on December 10 in the
latest mass demonstration against the introduction of water charges. Protesters from across the country braved media hysteria, riot police
and police barricades, and the threat of a fierce storm, to descend on
the centre of Dublin, placing Leinster House – home of the Dáil (the Irish
parliament) – and other government buildings in “lock down”.

The protest – organised by the Right2Water campaign – was the third
major protest against the charges in two months. It came after a 100,000
strong march in Dublin on October 11 and protests across Ireland on
November 1 that attracted about 200,000 in dozens of towns and cities.

The introduction of new charges on water use, levied via new
state-owned company Irish Water, has brought years of anger with
austerity cuts and government arrogance to a head. Not only is the cost of water already covered by general taxation, it
is also widely believed water charges are a first step towards
privatising Irish Water and the revenue from water charges.

December 14, 2014 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- "My business is revolution."[1]
These words of the Irish socialist James Connolly succinctly sum up the main
focus of his life. James Connolly is one of the towering socialist figures of our
time. Connolly’s commitment to socialism and internationalism saw him work as
labour organiser in Scotland, the United States and Ireland.

Connolly was also a
stalwart member of the left wing of the Second International along with Lenin,
Eugene Debs, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky. However, Connolly is most
well known for his central role in the struggle of Irish independence,
especially in leading the Easter Uprising of 1916. The revolt failed and cost
Connolly his life, but it was the spark that led to the end of British rule in
the 26 counties of southern Ireland.

November 7, 2014 -- Léargas -- November 1, 2014, was the anniversary of the execution by the British of 18-year-old Kevin Barry. He was hanged on November 1, 1920. Kevin Barry
was one of the "Forgotten Ten" -– Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers who were all executed in Mountjoy prison and buried there by the British government. He and
nine other freedom fighters were afforded a state funeral a few years
ago when their remains were moved from Mountjoy to Glasnevin.

I was there that day, and more important than all the pomp and ceremony
of the fitting state occasion was the huge turn out of citizens who
lined the pavements and joined the funeral ceremony. Kevin Barry was a
victim and a hero of the Tan War – a conflict that lasted two years and
was followed by a bloody civil war which saw atrocities committed by
both sides.

His life and death and role as an IRA Volunteer was immortalised in song
shortly after his death. "Kevin Barry" became one of the most popular
rebel songs of that and subsequent generations.

November 1, 2014 -- Irish Republican News -- Sinn Fein has topped an opinion poll in the 26 Counties for the first
time in the history of polling in the state, gaining four points to move
up to 26%. The Millward Brown survey for tomorrow’s Sunday Independent questioned
1000 people over the past 10 days.

It shows independents also making gains, they increased their support by
two points to stand at 23%.

Support for both government parties is down significantly, with Fine
Gael dropping three points to 22% and Labour down two from 9% to 7%.
Fianna Fail has also seen a drop in support, down one to 20%.

The poll showed a major move up for Sinn Fein, despite an intensive and
orchestrated campaign in the establishment media to damage the party.

The news also came as over 200,000 people demonstrated on streets up and
down the country in protest against water charges. Even the smaller
towns across Ireland saw people march in their thousands, while cities
numbered in tens of thousands.

October 11, 2014 -- Irish Reuplican News -- Crowds not seen in several years have demonstrated against water
charges on the streets of Dublin city centre on October 11 as voters
delivered a stunning message of no confidence in two by-elections to
the Dublin parliament.

Traffic in Dublin’s city centre came to a standstill due to the
unprecedented collective anti-austerity march. The demonstration took
one hour and twenty minutes to pass the Spire in O’Connell Street asmarchers made their way from Parnell Square, around the city finishing at
the GPO in O’Connell Street.

While the Garda [police] press office could declined to give a figure for the
numbers in attendance, one garda observing the march admitted the
numbers could be as high as 100,000, a giant number by the standard of
such protests.